The country of Ziyech.

A shattering sound resounded in the royal dining room of the palace. The king of Ziyech stood up ignoring the glass of wine that fell from his hands. He looked at his servant with quivering eyes.

“What did you just say?”

The servant was paled and his breath was unsteady. He gulped and repeated what he said earlier.

“We received reports that the heads of state and military force of numerous countries in the Northern Region have been destroyed.”

“H-How?!”

“….The Dragna Empire.”

The servant shook his head.

“Miko…He…My King, that person is a heartless monster with no compassion whatsoever.”

He held his shoulder.

“Just thinking about how close we came to experiencing the same hell the other countries did…”

“Get a hold of yourself and tell me what the reports say!”

The Demon Kingdom of Edison earlier that day. The king of Edison was in his throne room with all of his trusted advisors.

“Are there any new reports about the situation in the Dragna Empire?”

“Nothing new, My Liege. Renacido’s soldiers continue to occupy the borders. They haven’t made any moves has of yet.”

“I see. Maybe that brat, Miko, is getting cold feet? After all, who in their right mind would challenge them? I’m glad that I rejected his peace treaty and sent that message to Dragna City informing them that I’m on their side. This way we lose nothing and can possibly become allies of the Dragna Empire.”

He laughed.

“And what if Miko reconciles with his family?”

“Even if he does reconcile with the empire he will definitely have his power stripped from him. They’ve already experienced betrayal they can’t afford to have a brat with so much power possibly bearing his fangs at them again.”

“Your words are wise, My Liege.”

“Of course, they are. You can’t be king and be short-sighted at the same time.”

“I agree.”

A voice echoed in the room and was followed by a deafening sound. Everyone in the room looked up and witnessed the roof being torn off. Someone descended from the sky and landed in front of the throne.

“Who are you?!”

The king roared at the intruder as guards rushed into the room and surrounded them.

“Yelling was unnecessary, I was going to introduced myself anyway.”

The intruder lifted their right hand in front of them showed off a platinum ring with cravings of a dragon and a crow on it.

“Guardian of Renacido, Oden.”

“Renacido?”

The king smirked.

“I see, you’re a Divine Level Demon like myself. To have someone like you under him, maybe I should give Miko more credit.”

“Ah, it would be wise if you don’t speak badly of the Don in my presence.”

The king burst out laughing.

“You think I’m afraid of you? Look around you, all of my advisers are Divine Level beings. We outnumber you, you’re the one who should watch his tone.”

The king gets off his throne.

“But your boss is a fool. I turned him down and he sent an assassin to kill me. How idiotic.”

“Assassin? I’m no assassin.”

“Then, what are you?”

“An executor.”

“Hahaha! You moro—?!”

The king’s body shook and his vision became blurry. He felt hot liquid flow out of his mouth. He looked down and saw his clothes stained in red. He wiped his mouth that was leaking uncontrollably and looked at his hands.

“Blood? How?”

“Ugh!”

Groans reached his ears causing him to turn towards his advisors. He saw them kneeling on the ground. Blood was flowing out of their mouths, noses, and eyes.

“What?”

He turned to Oden.

“What did you do?!”

“Poison, what else could it have been?”

“Poison? Impossible! There are only a few poisons that can work on Divine Beings! Plus when did you poison us?!”

“I guess telling you is a form of torture in itself.”

Oden smirked.

“You and the other divine beings in this country….”

Oden shook his head.

“Every Divine Being in the Northern Region that’s outside of the Dragna Empire have been fed the Corpse Rose poison, one of the few poisons that can cripple gods which can only be found in the Azalea Kingdom.”

“Every Divine Being? How is that possible?”

“Like this.”

Oden snapped his fingers and the guards that were surrounding him started killing each other. This scene shocked the King. Soon only a handful was left. Those guards stood behind the advisors. In unison, they stabbed their weapons into their backs.

“Guaah?!”

The advisors wailed in pain and fell to the ground.

“You’re controlling them?”

“Close.”

Oden moved his hair from his forehead and revealed his third-eye.

“Parasite Demons!”

“Bingo. The man that you mocked as foolish had stationed these guys and other monsters in all of the countries in the Northern Region before he took over Dale and Aloe to act as his eyes and ears. It’s just that recently they received new orders.”

Oden took a vial containing a black liquid.

“Poison the water supplies of the countries they were in.”

The King’s eyes widened.

“Water is important, you know. No person can survive without it. Also, we need it to grow the food we eat. We need it for personal hygiene as well. There’s no way to avoid it. So what do you think will happen if the rivers, lakes, ponds, and every water supply in a country is dosed with poison?”

Oden smirked.

“No matter how hard they try the Top Brass of that country must get poisoned one way or the other.”

“T-That’s…For it to be undetected the poison must’ve been diluted. Do you know how long it would take for it takes effect?!”

“This is why the Don is so terrifying. He’s been caring out this plan the moment he returned to the Dragna Empire a month prior to when you received the peace treaty. In others, you’ve been fed poison every day for the last two months.”

The king fell to his knees.

“Oh, but it’s not just you.”

Oden continued.

“I said we poisoned all of your water supplies right? Then, doesn’t that mean that all of your citizens have been poisoned as well?”

The King gritted his teeth.

“You people are insane! You’re planning on killing off a whole country because they reject your peace treaty?!”

“What are you talking about? The Corpse Rose Poison needs a catalyst to activate. Only certain people have been exposed to that catalyst.”

Oden walked over to the king.

“Why did you think I made such a spectacular entrance earlier?”

“…You released the catalyst in the air?”

“I guess you’re not that stupid after all.”

Oden stooped down and lifted the king by his hair, while the other Parasite Demons lifted the advisors overhead with their weapons logged in them.

“It’s time for you fools to pay for insolence against the Dragna Empire. It’s a good thing that you’re in the Divine Realm, so you won’t break easily before we deliver you.”

(Deliver?... Wait.)

“Dragna Empire? Not Renacido?”

“What nonsense are you saying?”

Oden looked a bit confused.

“Renacido and the Dragna Empire is one and the same.”

In a country east of Aloe. The capital of that country was on fire. Civilians were seen evacuating as fast as they could with a few dozen flying lions in the sky behind them. Warriors wearing Renacido’s insignia mounted these beasts. They rained down attacks on the military camps in the capital. The corpses of hundreds of soldiers covered the streets. Those who were alive looked weak and could barely move. They could only wait until it was their time to die.

“D-Damn you, Renacido!”

In the burning Royal Castle, a woman was laid out on the ground covered in blood. Around her were the torn up corpses of soldiers, servants, and government officials.

“You cowards poisoned and attacked us!”

“Don’t you humans have a saying? All is fair in love and war.”

A voice answered the woman.

“Cry all you want but this is your doing.”

Arlan walked out of the flames and approached the woman. She rubbed her heel in a wound in the woman’s stomach.

“As queen of this kingdom, you damned your people because of your decision.”

“W-What the hell are you talking about?! I agreed to the peace treaty, didn’t I?!”

“You did, but that was an attempt to trick us. You wanted to act like an ally and stab us in the back the first chance you would get to please the Dragna Empire.”

“I didn’t—Ahh?!”

The woman screamed after Arlan increased the pressure on her wound. Blood gushed out and stained Arlan’s heels.

“Don’t lie. Our spies confirmed everything.”

Her eyes of a lioness looked down on the woman like she was already dead. She showed off her platinum ring.

“As a Guardian of Renacido, I will punish you here before bringing you to be judged.”

She showed a bright smile.

“Of course, you’ll lose everything before that.”

Similar scenes took place in several other countries at the same time. The Guardians of Renacido attacked these countries with the squadrons they formed from warriors they brought to the Ruined World to train with them a year ago. These warriors were not only strong, but they were well coordinated. No squad had more than 50 members but they were able to bring every country’s capital they attacked on its knees the moment the Corpse Rose Poison took effect on the soldiers and Top Brass stationed there. Collectively, it took them only a few hours to take down 8 countries in the Northern Region.

Present time, Ziyech. The king of Ziyech was trembling after hearing the reports from his servant.

“My god. So all the countries who turned down the peace treaty had all of their soldiers killed and royalty captured…”

“That’s not true, My King. Some of the countries had accepted the peace treaty and was still attacked.”

“They might’ve had ulterior motives and Miko was aware of this and took them out.”

“I thought that too but there’s something strange about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Queen of Rennes turned down the peace treaty but Rennes was never attacked.”

The king thought about it for a while before mumbling.

“It might be because of how she turned them down. I mean I took the peace treaty but stated that our country didn’t wish to get involved in the family matters of the Dragna Empire. I even encouraged Renacido and the Dragna Empire to reconcile.”

The King’s eyes widened.

“Whether you sign the peace treaty or not wasn’t important. What determined whether you were attacked is the intentions behind your answer. If you had bad intentions towards Renacido, no. If you had bad intentions towards the Dragna Empire in any way you’re considered an enemy.”

“You are correct, King Ziyech.”

The king felt a touch on his shoulder. He turned around and ashen when he saw a pair of cold ocean-blue eyes looking at him. Those eyes belonged to a smiling Miko. The king was so frightened that he couldn’t move. Neither did anyone else in the room.

“I sent the peace treaty to see the true colors of the countries around us. I wanted to see if they’re potential enemies or allies.”

Miko lifted up two fingers.

“There were only two right answers. You reject saying that you don’t want to be involved or you accept but clearly state that you don’t wish to become an enemy of Dragna.”

He patted the king’s shoulder.

“You passed, so you qualify to become an ally.”

The weight on the King’s body felt far greater than it was before. He realized that he barely escaped destruction. Why? Because you couldn’t choose between Dragna and Renacido because they were one and the same. Meaning, Miko never wished to rebel, he only wished to strengthen his home.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“…Where?”

Miko smirked.

“To see the fates of those who dared to plot against my empire.”